Grace Baptist Mission
helping the churches to support and care for their missionaries worldwide
News in Detail
Athelington Family Camp
Athelington Hall Farm proved once again to be an ideal venue for the 2008 Family Camp and we had a record number of people on camp with 170 plus enjoying a week of Bible ministry, mission focus and fellowship. Sukesh Pabari opened up the word of God to us each morning on the theme of mission and the clear biblical mandate for mission being church based. Not only did we have a record attendance overall, we also broke previous Athelington records with the number of children and young people. Running parallel with the morning Bible ministry was the Bible Club for children under the age of twelve and forty children packed into the hall every morning. Maria Amoako led this meeting with her team of helpers, and the theme of the week was “Great Days of the Bible” with a clear gospel message throughout. An equal number of young people enjoyed the late night programme with various games and activities including an opportunity to grill the missionaries.
The marquee proved to be a very attractive and pleasant environment throughout the day beginning with the morning Bible ministry and each evening we had the mission focus. Sukesh Pabari spoke about the challenges of his work in Kenya; Maria Amoako shared her burden and concerns for the country of Spain, Andrew Cook and the opportunities presented by Radio, and a focus on the evangelistic challenge for the forthcoming 2012 London Olympic Games. Also during the week we heard about the work in India, Western Kenya and Brazil.
Add to this recipe the morning and evening coffee bar, games and competitions, and the Friday Hog Roast and you have a full and exciting week for all ages. The unanimous verdict was that Athelington was a great and fantastic week for all ages. The weather was a little damp, but also a week with plenty of sunshine. However the weather didn’t matter as nothing could take away or spoil the wonderful fellowship and the blessing of God’s word throughout the week.
Colombia
It is good to hear from our missionaries from time to time and this recent news from Theo and Sonja Donner reminds us to pray for them as a family, and also offers insight to the work of the gospel overseas, and the training of men and women for Christian service. Theo and Sonja are living and working in Colombia, South America.
Family - This month it will be a year since the accident in which Charlie Osgood, Meeuwisse's husband, died. Meeuwisse gave birth to twin daughters – Rachel and Rebekah – in February. In April she moved to Canada and since then has been living two doors away from Wiarda and Ross and their family. We do thank you very much for your prayers for Meeuwisse and the family. Saskia and Luis Eduardo would appreciate prayer as they seek to find the Lord's will for their future. They are hoping to find a situation where both of them can pursue their studies, but this is not easy. They are planning to leave Colombia in the middle of next year, but apart from that nothing is definite.
The Bible Seminary - The second semester has started and Theo’s responsibility for the first four weeks is a series of lectures on The Old Testament in the New Testament. Following that, the course on the Torah starts which includes a heavy load of homework, usually two piles of homework to correct every week. Then following the autumn break Theo is due to speak to pastors and missionaries of the Christian and Missionary Alliance from all over Latin America in Guayaquil.
Publications - The book "Small Biblical Theology" is well on it’s' way to being published. There are still some problems to be resolved, but the book should come out in the coming months, under the title “The text that interprets the reader”. At the end of June Theo taught this material as a one-week course in Bogotá. Work on a History of Exegesis continues, but it has been slow.
Ministry – In May 2008 Theo spoke on the experience of Burnout to a considerable number of pastors and Christian leaders. Several new invitations to speak on the subject have come as a result of that. It will be one of the areas he hopes to speak about in Guayaquil in October.
The Nation - Colombia continues to be in the news. You will have heard and/or seen the news about the spectacular liberation of 15 hostages in the early days of July. The liberation included Ingrid Betancourt and three US military advisers. They were the most high-profile hostages held by the FARC guerrilla. Ingrid Betancourt was kidnapped while campaigning for the presidency. She is now well and truly launched on the road to fame and high office. Curiously, she will be able to choose whether to follow a political career in Colombia or in France. She holds both nationalities. You may want to pray for her. Her experience of captivity has meant a new relationship with God. As her background is Catholic, she interprets the experience from that perspective, but there seems little doubt of the reality of the change in her. The president, Alvaro Uribe, is also facing a difficult choice. He may be able to change the constitution once again to allow him a third term of office. But apparently he is considering the alternative of following the Russian example, i.e. allowing someone else to hold the office for one term and then present himself again for the elections of 2014.
“May you know God's presence and blessing in your life and work”,
Theo and Sonja Donner
Fifty years of GBM Radio
The story of the GBM’s fifty years of radio ministry, celebrated at the Open Day on 21 June, is told in a fifty-page booklet, O Earth! Hear written by Philip Grist, priced £2.00 and available from GBM at 12 Abbey Close, Abingdon, Oxon, OX14 3JD.
In this booklet Philip Grist traces the story of GBM radio from the days when he and John Appleby broadcast from a makeshift studio in South India through to the programmes now prepared in the system-built studios at Abingdon. The story is a fascinating and interesting one with several pages of colour photographs.
Is radio evangelism effective? There are many stories that answer that question. For example, one listener wrote, ‘I’m not a Christian but having heard that Jesus can forgive sins is the best news that I have ever heard’. A listener from Ethiopia wrote to say how a ‘Sound Words’ programme (prepared by Derek French) had changed his life. He shouldn’t have received the programme. Programmes were not being aired to Ethiopia but on that particular day a radio signal from the Philippines aimed at SE Asia somehow hit Ethiopia. ‘What proof of the Lord’s sovereign control of the airwaves’ comments Philip.
Jason Murfitt’s radio ministry brought back memories to Philp of those long-ago days in India. Since February 2007 about 230 programmes have been broadcast via a local station in Manacapura, Brazil. Jason writes ‘The studio is very basic, the multi-CD player often embarrassingly jams and although there is a knack of slamming the door shut at just the right speed and pressure to make it work again, it is a knack I am still mastering; and frequently the whole master switchboard cuts out, but usually with a firm thump on the table it cuts back in; failing this the switchboard needs to be picked up and dropped from a height of about one inch, this rarely fails to do the trick – but if it does then the last resort is an even firmer kick!’
Andrew Cook, who joined the Abingdon team 2004, uses the EXP factor. ‘This simply means seeking the voice of EXPerts asking them to EXPlain in terms easily to be understood. Then, getting listener friendly Bible Teachers to give EXPosition and finding people directly affected to share their EXPerience and testify to how God has helped them’. This approach was put to good use in a series on HIV/AIDS during 2007.
John Appleby challenged Derek French (who became part of GBM’s radio team in 1992), ‘Do you realise that the first time you air a programme, you will be reaching more people in one go than you have ever preached the Word of God to throughout your whole life-time?’ This is a humbling thought to all involved with Christian radio.
Stan Evers, Potton
Open Day in Abingdon
Thank you to all who attended the Abingdon Open Day on 21st June. The day began with rain as the grounds where prepared for a full programme of events, however as 10am drew near the rain ceased and the sun began to make an appearance. It was an encouraging time as a good number of visitors began to arrive and continued to do so throughout the day. A live in-house radio broadcast could be heard across the site presented by the GBM radio team with interviews, information and music. There was a choice of three seminars on the theme of India, Spain, and the Philippines. The main theme of the Open Day was the celebration of 50 years of GBM Radio that had its beginnings in South India. A very well presented exhibition traced the history of radio down the years; also the Literature Zone and the radio partners, FEBA, MERF, TWR and HCJB contributed to an informative and challenging day.
In the Long Gallery, part of the medieval Abbey Buildings, there were stalls featuring the UK based work, the Asia, Africa, Europe and South America Zones and a very busy Togo children’s area with activities and stories throughout the day all combining to make it an instructive area as people made their way through. Over in the Abbey Chapel and GBM Offices the activities continued. In addition to the busy studios broadcasting the live programme, there were two radio editing demonstrations, both very well attended. The team demonstrated the significant changes that have taken place over the years in the technology used to produce programmes. There was even the opportunity to have a go at editing yourself, which proved very popular. It was good to have a number of missionaries with us for the day and people had ample opportunity to hear from them and to engage in conversation. The day concluded with a Thanksgiving Service when over 400 people packed into the marquee on Rye Farm meadow. The marquee was supplied by the Association of Grace Baptist Churches, East Anglia and was situated on the meadow across the river Thames from the Abbey Close complex. During the meeting we heard testimony from Nathan Javed who is working alongside the churches in Bradford and Haworth, West Yorkshire. Derek French interviewed John Appleby who began the radio ministry in Tamil Nadu, South India 50 years ago. It was John Appleby who then opened up the word of God in the closing message to bring the day to a conclusion.
Thank you to so many of you who helped to make this day possible. We couldn’t have done it without an army of helpers beforehand and on the day itself. Thank you to David Piper and the team from Suffolk for supplying the marquee and efficiently erecting and dismantling the whole thing in record time. Thank you to members of Mission Council and many of our supporting churches in offering your help. We are very grateful to the members of Abbey Baptist Church, Abingdon in the help you gave, and allowing us the use of the building. Thanks also to the Friends of Abingdon for the loan of the beautiful Abbey buildings, to Richard Graves, Gloucester for the technical help and equipment, and to Steve Piggott, Horsham for ably playing the keyboard and leading the singing before and during the Thanksgiving Service. The danger now is that I have missed somebody from the list, but a heartfelt thanks to everyone involved.